Welcome to Bimmerfest -- The #1 Online Community for BMW related information! Please enjoy the discussion forums below and share your experiences with the 200,000 current, new and past BMW owners. The forums are broken out by car model and into other special interest sections such as BMW European Delivery and a special forum to voice your questions to the many BMW dealers on the site to assist our members!

2 main reasons:
1. Series 1 illuminates from the edge not the center. I prefer this look over having the light coming from the center of the gauge.
2. I prefer the Series 1 font and overall appearance (Feel it better matches the Z3 dash).

Both reasons are personal preference. I have Vision gauges in my GTI and they are perfect for what they do, but in the Coupe I prefer the Series 1.

Do you have a source for getting the gauge faces silk-screened (or hand painted) to match the gray gauge faces of the 01-02 Ms?

I too want to add an oil pressure gauge and voltmeter in place of the clock and ambient temperature gauges, but since I have the gray/black interior, the gray gauges look right. I do not have any trouble reading them in any kind of light, as was mentioned about them when the 01s first came out.

Worst case, I could use black gauges like my 99 has. Do you have an oil pressure gauge to match them?

Originally posted by Randy Forbes Do you have a source for getting the gauge faces silk-screened (or hand painted) to match the gray gauge faces of the 01-02 Ms?

I too want to add an oil pressure gauge and voltmeter in place of the clock and ambient temperature gauges, but since I have the gray/black interior, the gray gauges look right. I do not have any trouble reading them in any kind of light, as was mentioned about them when the 01s first came out.

Worst case, I could use black gauges like my 99 has. Do you have an oil pressure gauge to match them?

I prefer not to use the A-pillar pod...

Thanks!

Randy,

We can get them silk screened but there would be a very large investment. Jon will be able to better answer what all would be involved. The numbers were insane, something like 50 to 100 gauges.

We can get them silk screened but there would be a very large investment. Jon will be able to better answer what all would be involved. The numbers were insane, something like 50 to 100 gauges.

If you want to have a back-lit Vision gauge custom made, we need to sell about 50 of them to break even. I don't think we want to go that route considering we have not sold 50 plain vision oil pressure gauges in the last 4 years total.

However, we can get a VDO Series1 or Cockpit gauge made with a custom face that will match M gray. NHS can match the font, everything. They do really, really high quality restoration work on gauges and I am sure they could do this for us. The needle color will match too. I don't know cost. Under $250 apiece. I have been thinking of getting one made for myself to see how it turns out. The only "problem" with a Series1 or a cockpit is they light from the side. Like the Z8 or an old-school Camaro. The light does not come thru the numbers like the rest of the stock gauges in the car. I think this would be OK if you mounted the custom oil pressure gauge on an A-pillar pod, but if you put it in with the rest of the lineup it would not match. Certainly not at night. The needsle are not fiber optic on series1 or cockpits. Only on Visions.

So, long story short, the best route is a stock vision gauge, possibly with one of our orange bulb covers for night illumination, and with an M chrome ring. Like what Ron has.

(1) Senders. No problem. We keep senders for 4- and 6-cylinder BMWs in stock all the time. Boost and EGT and other weird stuff is order-only.

(2) Cockpits or Series1. You could feasibly have 3 new gauges made for you custom. Either series. Have all 3 made with red/amber needles and with custom silkscreened faces that match S54 gray. You could have OEM chrome rings crimped on. You cold use amber bulb covers from us. They will all be side-lit, they will match, they will look good at night (see Andy's preference above). You can use all electrical gauges, even though they are older designs. The "problem" is only the price. NHS makes their money on custom stuff. They do great work, but it will not be cheap. You will be permitted to redesign the gauge face any way you want however. ie: delete the VDO insignia, choose the measurement units, etc. We thought (or are still thinking) that maybe Andy's car would get series1 gauges with dakar yellow faces and black lettering and black needles. Still an option. Andy may go that route some time in the future. Who knows what goes thru his head.

(3) Visions. To get a perfect match, the best and cheapest way to go is to replace all 3 gauges with visions, from us, with M chrome rings and amber bulb covers. We have had a voltmeter with chrome ring in stock for literally years now, and of course you qualify for employee pricing. If you replace all 3, they match, they will be backlit light the main gauges, the needle color matches during the day, and we can get you a deal since we want to move the stock. The only drawback with this route is they are not gray and the font is slightly different than the main gauges. But since all 3 next to each other match, I think it's OK.

If you want to discuss, give me or Andy a call today. I am painting to-be-rusty portions of brake rotors with Eastwood stainless steel high temp paint. It is tedious and I would not mind a distration. 425.377.0162.

I like the idea of oil press on the a-pillar with a cockpit gray custom gauge myself.

You can get pretty obsessive about gauges if you aren't careful. Andy and I noticed that the volt and oil press gauges in his pics do not match the oil temp gauge (which is a correct series1 gauge). We are taking steps to address this in the spirit of making no compromises.

I got thinking when I read all this gauge and lighting stuff. What would I have to do to change my lighting from the stock red. I have trouble reading the numbers with the red color. I think the passat color scheme for instruments is great. I'd settle for white for all them.

Hey randy isn't it hard to change staions with the radio on the floor?

Keep in mind that the '01 and later M's use a gauge control module.
So if you add another oil temperature gauge you will also need to add another oil temperature sensor along with the oil pressure sensor at the oil filter housing assembly. Since this takes up both holes you lose the idiot light sensor. You can get this back by using the VDO sensor with the idiot light included.
I used the BMW black oil temperature, sensor and voltmeter in my '01 m Coupe along with the OBC. I used a vision series oil pressure gauge mounted on the A-pillar.

Originally posted by bob lindquist Hey randy isn't it hard to change staions with the radio on the floor?

Not nearly as hard as it is to figure out the window & bun warmer switches

Hats off to Ron (yet again) for pointing out the pitfalls and to keep us from making expensive mistakes.
It would seem obvious that it's okay to let the gauge control module continue its purpose in life without the factory oil temperature gauge connected to it...
...and to pick up the voltmeter signal from any "Hot in Run & Start" source located nearby (same as what would be used to power the new gauges)?

Originally posted by Randy Forbes Not nearly as hard as it is to figure out the window & bun warmer switches

Hats off to Ron (yet again) for pointing out the pitfalls and to keep us from making expensive mistakes.
It would seem obvious that it's okay to let the gauge control module continue its purpose in life without the factory oil temperature gauge connected to it...
...and to pick up the voltmeter signal from any "Hot in Run & Start" source located nearby (same as what would be used to power the new gauges)?

Originally posted by bob lindquist I got thinking when I read all this gauge and lighting stuff. What would I have to do to change my lighting from the stock red. I have trouble reading the numbers with the red color.

The color is part of the screen. So you would have to have a new screen made with the color you want.